METAZOAN PHYLOGENY AND THE CAMBRIAN RADIATION

Sequence analysis of small-subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) has provided important new pieces for the great puzzle of metazoan phylogeny and has generated new perspectives on the Precambrian-Cambrian fossil record of the metazoan radiation. While the puzzle is far from resolved and the early results are plagued by difficulties in data analysis, intriguing insights have appeared. Early results suggest that molluscs and lophophorates are protostomes, and that deuterostomes may be derived from protostomes. More speculatively, annelids and molluscs may be derived from arthropods or an arthropod ancestor. The molecular evidence further strengthens paleontological arguments for an explosive metazoan radiation near the Vendian-Cambrian boundary, rather than a lengthy, but hidden, period of Precambrian diversification.